


interstellar overdrive

by evotter



Series: the phase 3 rewrite nobody asked for [4]
Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Endgame AU, Fix-It, Gen, Infinity War AU, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Peter says Fuck, more will be added as the story goes on - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-20
Updated: 2020-08-03
Packaged: 2021-02-27 18:34:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22820305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/evotter/pseuds/evotter
Summary: “Thanos has the biggest army in the universe.” Peter blurts, raising his voice to silence the bickering group. Everyone stares at him. “He won’t stop ‘til he gets all the stones. Xandar was his first target. We can’t be fighting while he makes his plan for the next one. Because his next target could literally be in this room.”(or: the infinity war fix-it i'm sure you need. not iw/endgame compliant)
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, Peter Parker & Avengers Team, Peter Parker & Guardians of the Galaxy Team, Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Thor & Guardians Of The Galaxy Team
Series: the phase 3 rewrite nobody asked for [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1473302
Comments: 29
Kudos: 184





	1. fly-by-night operation

**Author's Note:**

> hi! if you're just finding this fic, please make sure you check out (or gloss over tbh) the fics before this! like the summary said, this is not canon-compliant! so you may be a little lost as to where this story picks up. just a heads up :')  
> if you've been following this series, here's the first chapter! finally! yes i'm still alive! wahoo! i hope you enjoy!
> 
> title is from "interstellar overdrive" by pink floyd, which was featured in dr. strange. it's a 9min long song but it's SUPER good, so give it a listen if you want!)
> 
> since this is a HUGE fic with a LOT of characters, there's a lot more jumping around. it doesn't just stay with peter, coz there's a lot of other important stuff going on. BUT he still is my #1, i promise!

_NEW YORK, 2010_

There are screens all around him while he’s sitting at a table by himself, a file on the table in front of him. It has the S.H.I.E.L.D. logo in thick black ink, and there are two words on top that pique his interest. He places a hand on it tentatively.

“I don’t think I want you looking at that.” Nick Fury warns. Instead he tosses another file at the billionaire: an assessment from Natasha Romanoff, the undercover agent who’d posed as his assistant.

 **_Personality Overview:_ ** **_  
_ ** _Mr. Stark displays compulsive behavior._ _  
_ _Prone to self-destructive tendencies._ _  
_ _Textbook narcissism._

 **_RECRUITMENT ASSESSMENT FOR AVENGER INITIATIVE:_ ** ****  
**_Iron Man:_ ** _Yes._ _  
_ ****_Tony Stark:_ _Not Recommended._

“How can you approve me but not approve me?” Tony demands, as the one-eyed director turns his back for a second. “I got a new ticker. I’m trying to do right by Pepper. I’m in a stable...ish relationship.” Slowly, Tony flips open the Avenger file, setting Natasha’s assessment aside as he watches Fury warily.

**THE AVENGER INITIATIVE**

**PHASE 1:** _A response team comprised of the most able individuals humankind has to offer. The initiative will defend Earth from imminent global threats that are beyond the warfighting capacity of conventional military forces._

Back still turned, Fury says something about keeping Tony on as a consultant. Tony’s eyes roam over the rest of the file, lingering on the only name on the paper.

Then, as Fury turns around, he closes it. Tony stands, holds out his hand and says simply, “You can’t afford me.”

_AVENGERS FACILITY, 2018_

“Carol?” Peter repeats, as Tony finishes retelling his story. “We’re looking for someone named Carol?”

“Danvers.” Tony confirms. “Carol Danvers. I can’t find anything about her. I’ve searched, but everything comes up redacted. That plus the fact that Fury seems to be the only person who knows about her means she’s gotta be important.”

“So you think there’s more about her somewhere in these released files?” Peter looks back at the screen in front of him.

“I don’t know.” he says, shaking his head. “That’s why I need your help. I’ve tried to reach Fury, but… well, Fury calls you. Not the other way around. And there’s no intel in these files, which means she’s way more secret than anything else S.H.I.E.L.D. has info on. So without him, we gotta find a way to locate this Carol Danvers and see why she’s so top-secret. And how she can help.”

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to help with that.” Peter admits, reaching up to rub the back of his neck anxiously. “I don’t know a lot of stuff, Mr. Stark.”

“That’s bullshit.” Tony responds without even looking at him. “You’re one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, Peter, and you’re not even an adult yet. And you’ve got your AI, right? Trust me, you can help with a lot of this. I need you here, bud.”

Peter’s quiet for a moment. Tony watches him intently, waiting for an answer. Honestly, Peter just wants to know when the hell he’ll finally get a break from impending threats and being a superhero, ‘cause he really needs one. “Fine,” he says eventually, letting out a breath. “I’ll get Karen to do a deep search on Carol Danvers. I wonder what it is about her that’s got her so hidden away.”

“I don’t know,” the billionaire answers honestly, shoulders relaxing in relief as he turns back to the screen. “But honestly, I hope it has something to do with how Fury got that eyepatch, because that’s the one thing I gotta find out before I kick the bucket.”

_WAKANDA_

“Your Highness.” 

The king of Wakanda outstretches his hand, closing it around Steve’s as they meet each other just outside the palace entrance. “Thank you,” says Steve, with a dry smile. “Seems like I’m always thanking you for something.”

“He’s waiting in the lab.” T’Challa answers, shaking the captain’s hand. He looks to Vision, standing beside Wanda, and lifts his free hand to point at the stone in the middle of his forehead. “So is my sister. She is the one you will want to speak to about that.”

“Can she stabilize it?” Bruce inquires, pushing his hands into his pockets as the king leads them in the direction of the lab. “And ensure that Vision can stay alive without it?”

T’Challa’s smile only widens. At his side, Okoye smirks, looking over at the scientist with amusement in her eyes. “Clearly, you have not met my sister,” he answers. 

Sure enough, Bruce only gets more and more embarrassed as they reach the lab. Steve has been here before, has seen the carved panther in the mountain outside of the windows, has seen everything that this country has to offer under the guise of it being a poor, third-world country. Yet it amazes him still, every time. 

Bucky is waiting beside the princess when the group makes their way into the multi-level lab. He looks good, healthy; but he’s dressed for battle, in a suit that reminds Steve painfully of what Bucky was wearing the day he fell off the train. The metal arm attached is no longer bright and shiny, but a deep grey with orange-yellow lining—clearly one of Shuri’s designs. It looks less like an arm belonging to a brainwashed soldier and more like an arm that belongs to a good man. “How’ve you been?” Steve asks, leaning in to hug his best friend.

“Not bad,” Bucky answers, smiling easily. He looks more like himself than Steve has seen him since the war. “You know, for the end of the world.”

Steve pats his shoulder. “It’s not ending yet,” he says.

“No,” agrees the soldier, eyes shining. “Not yet.”

“Whoa,” says Shuri, eyes widening. A holographic screen hovers above Vision’s head, displaying an enlarged image of the mind stone. “The structure is polymorphic.”

“Right. We had to attach each neuron non-sequentially,” explains Bruce, looking over at her as she scans the stone with the beads on her wrist.

She blinks and meets the scientist’s eyes. It’s very obvious that she’s trying to look at him like he’s not stupid. “Why didn’t you just reprogram the synapses to work collectively.”

“Uh.” Bruce answers, as most of the people in the room stare at him in the exact same way, like they all understand how hard it was to reprogram the cradle in the first place. “Because… we didn’t think of it?”

Shuri smiles at him. He feels very uncomfortable being shown up by a kid Peter’s age. “I’m sure you did your best.”

“So you can do it?” Wanda says hopefully.

She nods, placing her hands on the table. “Yes, but there are more than two trillion neurons here. One misalignment could cause a cascade of circuit failures. It will take time, brother,” she adds, glancing at the king. “However long you can give me.”

“We don’t know how long we can give you.” Steve says honestly. “We don’t know when they might come for the stone.”

“If something breaks the atmosphere, we will know.” Okoye vows, turning to her king. “We will be ready.”

T’Challa nods, crossing his arms over his chest. Shuri starts to work on the stone, tapping on the hologram as the android closes his eyes. “Let us hope it does not come to that.”

_NIDAVELLIR_

The Benatar slows as it makes its final jump, cruising toward a large, dark planet with three rings around it. “So that’s what it looks like,” Gamora breathes, leaning forward in her seat. “The entire planet is the forge?”

“The dwarfs who live here have the sole purpose of forging weapons,” Loki explains, holding onto the back of Mantis’s seat as the Benatar reached closer to the planet. “It’s ironic, really, because they’re called dwarves but they tower over us all. But yes, the entire planet is the forge. The rings are what move to heat the metal. The forge—”

“—harnesses the power of a blazing neutron star,” she finishes. 

He looks surprised. “You’ve heard of it?”

“My father spoke of it a lot.” Gamora looks down. She can feel Peter’s eyes on her but ignores his gaze. “He’s been here before. This is where he went to create his gauntlet.”

“Thanos has already been here?” Loki repeats.

“Yes.” she looks up, brows furrowing. “Why?”

“I may know why Thor has been unable to contact us.” 

The ship makes its semi-rocky landing on the surface of the planet. The entire surrounding area is empty, and when they set foot on the gravel the cold is almost unbearable. “Lackey,” says Peter, crossing his arms as the ship closes behind them. “What do you mean? Why can't Thor contact us?”

 _“Loki,”_ corrects the dark-haired god, glancing back at him. “I worked for Thanos, for a brief period of time. As you may know, he’s merciless. Ruthless. He has no sympathy for anyone, whether they help him by choice or not. If my brother and his so-called fellow Avengers had not killed the majority of Thanos’s army in New York, his retaliation may have started sooner.”

“What are you saying?” Gamora asks, afraid of the answer.

“There used to be hundreds of dwarves on this ring.” Loki explains, voice as cold as the air around them. “Look around. Do you see any living creature in sight?”

“He killed them all.” Mantis realizes, antennae falling. 

“Not all.” 

The group turns around. Rocket is standing there, head down, an expression on his furry face unlike anything Gamora has seen on him before. “Rocket,” she breathes. “Where’s Groot? Thor?”

“We’ve got a problem,” Rocket says grimly, ignoring her questions. “So thank God you guys are here.”

=

Peter is at the front of the group when they follow Rocket across the cold planet. The scene that presents itself is nothing like he would have expected; there is a giant man, presumably the last remaining dwarf, wandering away from an unconscious body on the floor.

Well, _two_ bodies. Thor and Groot.

“What the hell?” Gamora breathes. Her gaze goes from the bodies to Rocket. “What happened?”

“The forge was frozen shut.” Rocket explains with a quick shake of his head. “Thor—he flew out to hold it open.”

“That’s suicide.” Loki says, eyes widening.

“Yeah, well.” he gives a half-shrug, looking away from the group. “He didn’t care.”

“And Groot?” Gamora prods, walking past the mutant to kneel beside the tree. “He’s—”

Rocket waves a hand. “Missing an arm,” he agrees. Peter’s heart sinks. “Look behind you.”

The metal catches Peter’s eye not even a moment later. On the ground lays a giant axe, a sharp blade on one end and the flat base akin to a hammer’s on the other. Wrapped around the center is a branch, tapering off into a handle. “Groot did that?”

“The dwarf said Thor needed it. It’ll grow back.” 

“He’s barely breathing,” says Loki, who has kneeled beside his brother with two fingers pressed to the god of thunder’s neck. “He is still alive, though I’m not sure for how much longer.”

“Can you heal him?” Peter asks immediately.

Loki fixes him with a flat look. Probably not the best thing to ask. “I’m a trickster,” he says, “not a Healer. My magic doesn’t fix things. Only makes things worse.”

“Can you try?” Gamora inquires softly.

The god’s eyes flicker from Peter to the green-skinned woman beside him. He looks back down at his brother and removes his fingers from his neck. “Perhaps,” he says. “But I cannot do it alone.”

“What do you need?”

“Nothing you can give me,” he replies, and the Tesseract materializes in his hand.

_AVENGERS FACILITY_

“Are you sure?”

 _“I’m sorry, Peter,”_ says Karen’s sweet voice, which makes him want to punch a wall even harder, _“I’ve done several extensive searches on the name Carol Danvers and nothing has popped up.”_

Peter groans. He runs a hand through his hair and leans back against the swivel chair he’s sitting in. His butt is pretty numb and the lights overhead make him want to puke. “Positive?”

_“I wouldn’t be saying it if I wasn’t. No public information exists.”_

Public, he thinks. That’s the kicker. “All right,” Peter shakes his head. “Thanks, Karen.” After a moment, he slides off the chair with another groan, feeling his knees crack and his back pop as he stretches. “Fuck.”

“Hey.” Tony says sharply, reentering the room at the exact moment Peter decides to swear, because that’s just how his life works. “Watch your language.”

“You’d be saying it too if you were searching for Carol Danvers on the internet and nothing is coming up.” Peter grumbles, rolling his head back. “Karen can’t find anything online.”

“Yeah, I thought about that,” the billionaire agrees. He sets down what he’s got in his hands: a beaten-up old box with dust particles that fly in several different directions as it thuds against the table. “We were only searching online.”

Peter eyes the box. “Where did you get that?”

“The shed of old S.H.I.E.L.D. shit that I took when it fell apart.” Tony replies. At Peter’s look, he shrugs. “I’m an adult. When you get a stable job and your own mortgage, you can swear like I do.”

“You think something’s in there about Carol?” he asks, ignoring the jab.

“Dunno.” Tony admits. “She’s not online, but I know S.H.I.E.L.D. had intel on her. Or, at least Fury did. This is the last box of non-computerized files I have. So it’s worth a shot.”

Peter carefully removes the lid from the box. “And we really think she’s going to make an impact on this war?” 

“She was the only name on that file.” Tony reminds him. “But I never saw anything else about her when Coulson brought the initial team recap to me before the Battle of New York. Fury’s MIA. S.H.I.E.L.D. is gone. What other options do we have? None, Pete. Just follow my hunch for...ten more minutes. That’s all I ask. If she’s not in this box, we forget all about her. Deal?”

Tony pulls a file out from the box and generates another dust shower over the table. He waves it in front of Peter, gesturing for him to take it.

Reluctantly, Peter does. “Deal.”

_NIDAVELLIR_

Peter’s not really sure why he lets the trickster summon one of the things Thanos is searching for out of thin air, but he does anyway. He watches as Loki closes his eyes, using one hand to grip the Tesseract and the other to wave over Thor’s unconscious body.

“The Infinity Stones have unlimited power,” Loki explains to no one in particular. As Peter watches, the burns on Thor’s skin begin to heal and disappear. “Power of death, destruction, manipulation. But also the power of wealth, healing, and protection. You just have to know how to wield them.”

“It’s working.” Mantis breathes.

“As soon as you’re done, put it away.” Gamora warns. “Having the stone unprotected for even a minute can alert my father to our location.”

“I’m aware of what your father is capable of.” he answers with a sharp look. “I wouldn’t be using it if I could save my brother any other way.”

Thor’s hand twitches at his side. In the next few moments, Loki backs up, Groot blinks awake, and Thor’s axe flies across the floor to fit perfectly in his hand. Thunder booms overhead. The flash of lightning that follows is almost blinding, but it illuminates the god of thunder as he brings himself to his feet.

“Loki,” says the god, looking at his brother with furrowed eyebrows. His focus is on the Tesseract. “What have you done?”

“A simple _‘thank you’_ would suffice.” Loki says dryly, lowering the object to his side. “I saved you from dying. Now, you have a life to live and a Titan-killing weapon to wield. You’re welcome.”

“Bringing the stone into our realm allows it to pop up on Thanos’s radar.” Thor says, shaking his head. “He could be heading our way this very minute and we have no way to get ourselves off this planet without him tracking us. And then he’s one stone ahead than he already is.”

“You see, I was thinking about that,” he says, eyeing the cube in his hands. “There is a way we could prevent that.”

“Yes,” Gamora agrees. “By getting it off this realm as quickly as possible.”

“No,” says Loki quietly. “We could put it inside the axe.”

The silence that takes over the group is deafening. Even Rocket, who is busy checking over Groot for any other injuries or limb losses, pauses in his actions to turn his head toward the dark-haired god.

“Loki, your hunger for power is not the same as mine,” Thor warns. Peter watches the tensing of the god’s shoulders and does not like what that might mean. “My answer is no. Put the infinity stone back where it was hidden. We don’t know where Thanos or his army is.”

“But with this we might learn.” Loki’s eyes flash with an emotion that Peter doesn’t recognize. “Beat him at his own game.”

“You’re foolish if you think we can beat Thanos.” Gamora says from Peter’s side. “Even with an Infinity Stone, he is unstoppable. We can’t be irrational about this, or we’ll all lose our lives sooner than we want.”

“Um,” Mantis says, but Peter barely registers it. “Guys?”

“So we just hide the stone away again and let him attack us with what he has?” Loki demands. “Having one while he has three is better than us not using any of the stones.”

“We’re not reaching a consensus here.” Thor says flatly. “Put the stone away, Loki. I will not ask again.”

“Quill,” Drax says from behind him. “We’ve got a problem.”

“I worked directly for Thanos when we took over New York.” Loki argues. “I can guess how this battle ends. If we ensure one stone stays in our possession, it increases our chance.”

“Oh, right.” Thor smiles, but it’s all irony and sarcasm. “You mean when you were our enemy and your judgement was clouded by vengeance? Forgive me for not jumping to your side when all you’ve done time and time again is stab me in the back.”

Loki’s eyes narrow. “Clearly, I’ve changed, brother. Why else would I be here?”

At Drax’s hand on his arm, Peter finally turns, following the direction that both he and Mantis are pointing. His eyes go wide.

_Fuck._

“We fucked up.” he says, reaching for his blaster. “Loki, put that stone away _now.”_

If the trickster god had something to say in return, he doesn’t get the chance. Because the giant spaceship looming over the group of heroes opens fire, and from then on, all Peter sees is dust.

_to be continued._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> you guys know what to do...... the button's right below this..... :)


	2. the real hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Look.” Tony shoves the file across the table. Peter stops it, looking down at the page, and sees a photograph of a young woman. “It’s a plan for a lightspeed engine, by a woman named Wendy Lawson. She was working with the Air Force, working with pilots while test-running her engine. Look at the plans for it—what the hell does that look like to you, kid?”
> 
> Peter looks down and blinks. “That’s the Tesseract.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hahaha. um. sorry it took me half a year to post this?

_NIDAVELLIR_

The dust clears and it’s quiet. _Eerily_ quiet. Too quiet.

Rocket can’t hear a damn thing.

He blinks and his eyes zero in on Groot’s body. But Groot isn’t the only one on the ground now; everyone is, a result of the Titan arriving on the planet. Loki pulling the stone out of wherever-the-hell he’d put it alerted Thanos to its location. And he was there within _minutes._ Which meant he’d been too close, or he was too good. Either way the outcome isn’t looking good. Not for Rocket, not for his team.

“Groot,” he breathes, shaking the tree’s arm. He’d woken up when Loki used the Tesseract, but the impact of the Titan’s arrival ruined that. “Groot, _wake the hell up._ C’mon.”

The ground trembles with some kind of earthquake. _No,_ not an earthquake, Rocket realizes, lifting his head. Footsteps. The footsteps of a tall, purple-skinned alien, flanked by armored creatures.

Jesus _Christ_ , he’s ugly. They’re _all_ ugly. Why are they always ugly?

“I know what it’s like to lose.” the Titan speaks. “To _feel_ so desperately that you’re right… yet to fail, nonetheless.” There’s a _horrible_ scraping noise, followed by a groan. A groan that Rocket had heard, earlier, when he watched Thor’s body fall on the gravel, burnt and barely alive. “It’s frightening. Turns the legs to jelly. I ask you, to what end? Dread it. Run from it. Destiny arrives all the same. And now… it’s here.” He raises his other arm, covered with a golden gauntlet, a purple stone shining in a placeholder. A reminder. He’d decimated Xandar. “Or should I say _I am.”_

Rocket watches. Thor spits blood from his mouth. It’s a relief to see him alive, but Rocket’s not sure for how much longer. “You _talk_ too much,” he growls. 

Thanos just smiles in a bone-chilling way. Rocket shakes Groot’s arm again, desperate. “The Tesseract,” he says, turning to look out of Rocket’s eyesight. “Or your brother. I assume you have a preference.”

Loki rises, covered with dust. He glances at Thor, then back up to the Titan. Said Tesseract is out of view, probably hidden again. Not that it does them any good this time. “I do,” he says. “Kill away.”

Rocket’s heart sinks. His friends are starting to stir. Quill first, immediately crawling over to where Gamora is laying. Drax and Mantis are sprawled out beside them. Loki’s _betraying_ them, like nobody but also everybody had expected, and Thanos was going to take the stone, kill them all, and fuck everything up.

Thanos responds with a growing smirk. He presses the purple stone against Thor’s temple and the god of thunder _screams,_ purple power cracking his skin. Rocket shivers all over. He _knows_ the impact of that goddamn stone. He remembers how it felt. They’d worked _so hard_ to keep it out of the grasp of Thanos already. And now he had it, like that never mattered.

Then Loki freezes. Rocket sees the way his posture stiffens. He realizes Loki may be feeling as tortured as Thor, just without physical pain. The dark-haired god closes his eyes tight, and then shouts, _“Wait!”_ It echoes through the empty air. 

Thor drops to the ground, gasping. Thanos only smiles again.

The blue shine of the cube illuminates the entire area. Loki lifts it higher, eye-view to the Titan before him. “I assure you, brother,” he says, speaking to Thor without removing his eyes from Thanos. “The sun _will_ shine on us again.”

“Your optimism is misplaced, Asgardian,” says Thanos.

“Well.” Loki responds, and the trance he’d been in is gone. “For one thing, I’m not Asgardian. And for another…”

Then Rocket sees it. Sees _him._ Another Loki, kneeling beside Thor’s axe. He lifts it as the Loki with the Tesseract disappears, and Thanos shouts.

“We have the Avengers.” Loki says, and the planet’s surface explodes with rainbow light.

_WAKANDA_

Steve approaches Bruce as the scientist stands with his hands in his pockets, watching as Shuri works over Vision’s body. “Weird, huh?” he says, and at Bruce’s stunned look, he elaborates, “How advanced their technology is. I brought Bucky here, to help him get all of H.Y.D.R.A.’s… stuff out of his head.”

“I feel like you.” Bruce comments. “Just out of the ice, seeing technology you couldn’t even _think_ of but it’s right in front of you. No offense, of course.”

“None taken.” Steve responds, and he smiles. He lifts a hand to clap Bruce on the shoulder. “It’s good to have you back.”

Bruce doesn’t seem to like that answer. “Me?” he repeats, and something in his expression shifts. “Or the other guy?”

 _“You,”_ says Steve, and he means it. “Where have you been?”

“Norway.”

“Before that?”

The scientist winces. “It’s a long story.” 

“Well.” Steve gestures to Shuri hovering over Vision, and Wanda on the other side, visibly worrying. “We’ve got time.”

“I took off in the quinjet.” Bruce says after a moment. “I, uh—crash-landed on a planet called Sakaar. The leader there, the Grandmaster, grabbed me, I think, and I ended up becoming his champion in this fighting tournament he did. I was unstoppable. I was there for two years.”

Steve blinks. “How did you get out?”

“Thor.” he admits. “He showed up there. Tried to leave and I… well—the other guy didn’t like that. Thor was going to leave on the quinjet and the Hulk tore it up.”

“So… you were the Hulk for two years?”

Bruce winces again. “Yeah. The whole time. It was… it was a trip, to say the least.”

Steve doesn’t want to ask, because he feels like it might get personal, but he does anyway. “How did you come back? From… the other guy?”

“Nat’s video message. She tried to call me home, when Ultron happened, and I turned it off.” Bruce clears his throat. “It must have saved itself on there, because it popped up when I—when _he_ was tearing up the ship.”

 _Nat._ Right. Steve had almost forgotten; after all, it’d been two years. They’d been different people. In the middle of a war, but nothing like the one they were about to fight. And he wasn’t quite sure what happened between Bruce and Natasha, because he and Bruce had never been close and he never dared to ask Natasha; but he knew it was important, and something special to both of them. Even if he literally would _never_ have thought about that happening. Like, ever. “Must have been crazy, right? Waking up in a foreign place and realizing you lost a significant chunk of time?”

“Well, it wasn’t seventy years of time,” Bruce answers, and a smile creeps up on his face. “But it _was_ a crazy planet I’d never even heard of before.”

“Definitely a trip, then.” Steve agrees. “But you’re here now.”

“Yeah, thankfully.” 

“I’ve never been to space,” says Steve thoughtfully, crossing his arms. He looks back at the Wakandan princess, and the technology she’s using still hurts his brain a little. “How is it?”

Bruce’s smile widens, but it’s humorless. “It sucks.”

_AVENGERS FACILITY_

“Pegasus.” Tony reads, a triumphant grin spreading across his face as he set the file down on the table with a smack. “You are awesome, kid. Fri, tell him he’s awesome.”

 _“You’re awesome, Peter,”_ answers the Irish AI. 

“What do you mean?” Peter frowns at him. “It’s just a file about some secret government project.” It was, in fact, the _only_ file in the box that had elicited a reaction out of Tony. “What does it have to do with Carol Danvers?”

“What does it have to do?” Tony echoes. He just grins, reopening it and flipping through the half-redacted pages. “This mythical horse has _everything_ to do with Carol Danvers, Pete.”

“I don’t think it’s necessarily mythical.” Peter starts, but Tony doesn’t acknowledge his statement, which is fair. 

“Look.” Tony shoves the file across the table. Peter stops it, looking down at the page, and sees a photograph of a young woman. “It’s a plan for a lightspeed engine, by a woman named Wendy Lawson. She was working with the Air Force. She had pilots test her engine without even _knowing_ it. Look at the plan for the engine—what the hell does that look like to you, kid?”

Peter looks down and blinks. “That’s the Tesseract.”

“That’s the Tesseract.” Tony agrees, grin widening. “There’s a lot I can’t read, some shit in glyphs—but look at that photo.”

The woman in the photo is young, maybe mid-twenties. The photo is old and discolored, but Peter can tell that she has blonde hair. She’s wearing aviators, and her dog tags are caught by sunlight around her neck. Peter recognizes her jumpsuit as Air Force, and her smile as a friendly one as it’s aimed at another woman standing beside her. “What about it?” Peter asks, but his eyes find the name of the woman just as Tony says it.

“That is Carol Danvers.” Tony tells him. “And these glyphs—I don’t know what dialect, but I know they’re alien. F.R.I.D.A.Y. can translate a lot, but we haven’t exactly got any alien translators around here to teach her that kind of stuff. But we _do_ know someone who can translate alien glyphs, and that’s—

“The Guardians.” Peter sighs. “But they’re on that planet with Thor. We can’t just call them back.”

He rubs his hands together. “Yeah, but we don’t need _all_ of them. Just one of ‘em. Or even just some of their tech, if they’ve got sensors to scan and translate these documents. Any kind of alien tech should be good enough.”

After a moment, Peter blinks. He can almost see the figurative light bulb blink on over his head. He doesn’t have many of those moments. “ _Any_ kind of tech?” he echoes, and immediately dives for his backpack. 

“I mean, probably. Alien recognizes alien, doesn’t it? From what I’ve gathered, a lot of other planets have technological advances that we don’t even have. Any tech requires coding, and that coding would be in native language—maybe more than one language.” Tony lets out a dry laugh. “God, I gotta sit down with the Guardians and pick their brains about space one of these days.”

“Good luck with that.” Peter answers, digging around through his bag. “I tried to do that once. The only one that wouldn’t try to hit me for _giving them a headache_ was Gamora.” 

“No.” Tony gasps in mock horror. “ _You,_ Peter Parker, giving someone a headache? Unthinkable.”

“Funny, Mr. Stark.”

_“Tony.”_

“No.” Peter stands up straight, holding the small device in his hand. He holds it out to the billionaire, watching as Tony frowns at it. “It’s the pager thingy—communicator—that the Guardians gave me, to get in touch with them if I ever needed their help,” he explains. “Or the other way around too, I guess. But it’s alien tech. And it presents the speaker in a holograph. That means it’s got to have a camera or a scanner of some kind. So if you can use your tech to pick out the schematics and figure out how it was built—”

“I can try and rebuild it to scan languages and translate them.” Tony finishes, reaching out to take the communicator from Peter. “Yeah. It might work. But that would mean that I gotta take this thing apart, kid. That means no more means of communication from the Guardians. So if they need to get in touch with us…”

He doesn’t have to finish the sentence. Peter bites his lip. He knows that this communicator isn’t their only means of contact, but it’s most likely the most convenient one. If they take this apart, and Tony can’t get it to translate the glyphs on the papers in front of them… it’s not certain he could put it back together. Which means that if the Guardians are away from their ship, and they can’t use the communicator to make contact… things might go wrong. _Really_ wrong. And Peter and Tony wouldn’t be able to help.

But they _need_ to find Carol Danvers. And something in these files might be able to help them find out where _exactly_ she is. That’s their mission. That’s what they’re bringing to the team.

“Okay.” Peter says. He looks up to find Tony staring at him with an expression he can’t quite cipher. “Okay, get F.R.I.D.A.Y. to see if she can pick it apart. This is our only shot at finding Carol Danvers.” 

Tony nods. He pockets the communicator and reaches out, putting his hand on Peter’s shoulder. “You know, kid,” he starts. “With these new players we got—the Guardians, Carol Danvers, and T’Challa helping out—it looks like we’ve got some new Avengers to induct.” 

“I don’t think any of them would agree to a ceremony.” Peter says honestly. 

“Can you let me finish talking? I’m trying to—” Tony cuts himself off to heave a large sigh, shaking his head. “You’re gonna be the death of me, kid. No. I’m _trying_ to say that if you want, I think we could make it official.” 

Peter blinks. “Make—make what official?”

“You. An official Avenger. What do you think?” Tony squeezes Peter’s shoulder before letting go of it, letting his hand fall back down. “You’re certainly putting in the work. You wouldn’t have to move here. I already gave you the new suit, which I wasn’t planning on doing until, obviously, you became an Avenger. I kind of already consider you part of the team, but I know you want the official title so you can stop lying to your friends.”

“I am not _lying_ to my friends.” Peter says hotly.

Tony just stares at him like he’s an idiot. “Okay,” he says slowly. “Sure. You’re not already telling your friends that you’re an Avenger.”

“I’m _basically_ an Avenger.”

“Yeah, so that’s _basically_ lying.” Tony points out. He raises an eyebrow when Peter scoffs, but when the teenager has nothing else to say, he spreads his hands. “You can _actually_ be an Avenger. No more _basically_ bullshit. But no more lying. No more sneaking around me. You might be part of the team but you’re still a _kid,_ and I am still looking out for you. You gotta train a bit more. I’m pretty sure anyone would be willing to train you. I’d give you a room here, but like I said—you don’t have to stay here. Only when you need to crash. Also, you can’t touch certain foods in the kitchen because there’s a spy who lives here who _will_ kill you.”

Peter thinks this might be the most Tony has talked in a certain amount of minutes since they met. Tony’s staring at him, watching him carefully. He’s not really sure what to say. Well, no, that’s dumb—Peter _does_ know what to say. But he’s almost afraid that it’s too good to be true.

“Cards on the table, Pete.” Tony says softly. He shrugs, like _becoming an Avenger_ is no big deal. “What do you think?”

What does he _think?_ This is all Peter has ever wanted since the day he walked into his apartment and saw Tony _fucking_ Stark sitting on his couch. An _Avenger._ And Peter could still have his friends, have his life at Midtown Tech, and keep his eye on the little guy. If there was ever a situation where Peter Parker could have everything he wanted, this might be the closest thing to it. He could train with _superheroes._ Be part of the team, officially, like he’d always wanted. 

Peter opens his mouth to respond.

Then the world outside _explodes._

=

When the rainbow light fades, and the feeling of flying through space dissipates, Peter Quill pushes himself to his knees. The ground below him is smoking as a result of a sigil being burned into the grass. He looks up and realizes they’re just outside the Avengers facility, 

“My brother’s weapon.” Loki says. It takes Peter only moments to realize that the trickster is speaking to Tony Stark and the kid, who have just hurried out onto the field. “It’s more than just a Titan-killing axe. It also harnesses the power of the Bifrost. I suppose I’m fortunate that the Allfathers allowed me to possess the strength to use it.”

“What the hell happened?” Stark demands. 

“Thanos happened.” Peter answers. His body still aches from the impact of when Thanos had arrived on Nidavellir. “Thor was almost dead, so Loki used the Tesseract to heal him. It brought Thanos directly to our location. He saved us,” he adds, as Stark’s eyebrows narrow threateningly. “Distracted the bastard and grabbed the axe. If it wasn’t for Loki, we’d all be dead and Thanos would have another stone.”

“You’re welcome.” Loki says, still holding the axe.

“You’re still a war criminal.” Stark fires back, but the look in his eyes isn’t as pissed off anymore. Mantis is helping Drax stand from Peter’s other side. Gamora takes a moment to get herself on her feet, but she doesn’t take Peter’s hand as he offers it to her. He’d been terrified that Thanos would take her on Nidavellir. Maybe he meant to. Maybe they got out just in time. _Maybe._ “But he didn’t get the Tesseract?”

“No, Stark.” Thor promises, who has risen to his feet beside his brother. “The Tesseract remains safe. And now”—he takes the weapon from Loki, lifting it like it weighs nothing more than a twig would—“we have something that can kill him.”

“Good. Because with you all back here, that means the remaining stones he’s looking for are all on Earth.” Stark looks at all of them. The kid stands beside him, obviously worried but trying not to show it. “We’ve gotta get a hold of Steve and warn him. Right now, that’s our priority. They’ve gotta get that stone out of Vision’s head before Thanos comes for him. We can try and set a trap—”

“There is no trapping Thanos.” Gamora interrupts. She’s breathing heavily, wincing as she shifts her weight from one foot to the other. “He’s too smart. He has too many people beside him. You try to set a trap, you die. _Especially_ when he has an Infinity Stone at his side.”

“He’s got _one_ stone.” Stark points out. “We’ve got the other five. We’re at an advantage.”

“That’s no advantage.” she shakes her head. “That’s barely a fair fight. He’s wiped out entire _planets_ with less than what he has now. And we don’t have the strength to wield the stones like he does. Anyone Terran would be killed from the impact.”

“Well, we can’t just stand here and do _nothing.”_

“There is something we can do now.” the kid speaks up. He looks from Stark to Peter. “We found some alien glyphs that we need help translating. We were going to use the tech from the communicator you guys gave me, but… now that you guys are here, I don’t suppose you have some kind of translator?” 

“We left our ship on Nidavellir.” Peter says with a sigh. Rest in peace to the _Benatar._ She was the best. “It doesn’t have much he could use by means of tracking us, but it’s got the best of our translator tech on it.” 

“I might be able to translate it.” Gamora offers. “Can you show me what you need translated?” 

The kid nods. Peter watches as she walks forward. It’s almost funny; as she walks, Peter can tell she’s trying to hide a limp. Gamora’s always been like that. Doesn’t want to show weakness, doesn’t want to show emotion… yeah, Peter’s having a hard time with the whole _emotion_ thing. But he _knows_ her. He doesn’t really know a lot about how this _Thanos_ stuff is gonna go, but he knows that it’s gotta be affecting Gamora pretty badly. Thanos is still her father, even if he is a murderous raging lunatic. Peter knows how that feels. Ego wasn’t as bad as Thanos, but he was still pretty crazy. 

“You scared the _shit_ outta me, Groot.” Rocket is saying, once Peter zeroes back in on reality. “Are you hurt? At least your arm’s back. _That_ was stupid, too. Are you even listenin’ to me? Groot—”

“I am Groot,” says the tree, as he picks himself up.

Rocket glares at him. “ _No!_ I _don’t_ have your stupid game. We left it on the ship, with everything else. Maybe Thanos likes video games. That’s all you care about? What’s wrong with you?”

“Teenagers.” Peter supplies, jokingly, as he walks past the pair of them.

“Fuck off, Quill.” 

Some things have changed, but at least _that_ hasn’t.

_to be continued._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> anyway. i'm gonna try to not take 6 months for the next chapter. if ur still here, thank you!!!! bless ur soul. we will eventually rewrite infinity war and endgame in their entireties, i promise you.
> 
> (pssst. everybody say yaaaaay loki's not dead)


End file.
